For Colin Montgomerie, it was a surprisingly happy return.
Playing for the first time since his father died, Woods ended a nine-week
layoff with bogeys on his first three
holes that sent him to his highest start
ever in the U.S. Open. He had to play
the final six holes 1 under par to escape
with a 6-over 76, leaving him seven
shots behind Montgomerie in the
toughest first round of this major in 20
years.
Woods looked somber at times, although that was more likely a product
of Winged Foot that memories of his father.
"Everyone was looking for me to be
more emotional," he said. "But I'm trying to put the ball in the hole and win
the championship."
No one did that better than Monty.
A perennial contender at the U.S.
Open in his prime, Montgomerie overcame a rugged start by relying on his
strength fairways and greens and his 1-under 69 was the only
round under par.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson
got off to a solid start in his bid for a
third straight major, making a pair of
30-foot birdie putts and a bunch of
short ones for par that proved
equally important. He wound up at
even-par 70, along with Jim Furyk,
David Howell, Miguel Angel Jimenez
and Steve Stricker.
Howell managed to make six birdies and was 4 under par with four
holes to play. But he started missing
fairways, which inevitably left him
testy putts for par, and dropped four
shots down the stretch, three-putting
for double bogey on the 18th.
"Once I calm down a bit, it's still
level par and it's a good round of
golf," Howell said. "But right now I'm
frustrated, and I'm fed up."
Mickelson didn't even bother trying to explain the degree of difficulty
at Winged Foot, where 22 players
shot in the 80s. The average score
was pushing 80, the highest in the
first round of a U.S. Open since
Shinnecock Hills in 1986.
"You've had to go play it to grasp
it," Lefty said. "It's the toughest test
we have all year."
It surely was a test of patience, including for Montgomerie.
He was 2 over after his first three
holes, then holed a 10-foot par putt
on the par-5 fifth that turned his fortunes. He started finding the short
grass and kept his ball below the
hole, and finished atop the leaderboard in the U.S. Open for the first
time since 1997 at Congressional.
Still, the 42-year-old Scot kept it in
perspective.
It felt like a marathon, players
plodding along as they looked for relief from a course that demanded accuracy off the tee, precision to the
greens and no time to breathe easy
until the ball was in the hole.
Vijay Singh, coming off his first
victory of the season last week at
Westchester, had a steady round of
71 to join former Masters champion
Mike Weir, John Cook and Fred
Funk, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Wednesday.
Mickelson was wild at the start of
his round in the morning, under
cool, overcast skies. He missed six
consecutive greens, but left himself
in decent shape to save par and did
that five straight times. Then came a
30-foot birdie on his ninth hole, No.
18, which showed how much his
preparation paid off.
He started the ball well to the
right, and watched the severe slope
guide it back toward the hole until it
disappeared, setting off a raucous
cheer from the New York fans who
again made the Californian feel at
home.
Key hole
A look at the key hole in
the first round of the U.S.
Open at Winged Foot Golf
Club:
Hole: 1
Yardage: 450
Par: 4
Stroke average: 4.69
Rank: 1
Key fact: Stuart Appleby
and Phillip Archer were the
only players to make
birdie. There were 26 double bogeys or worse.
By the Associated Press
